Are you preparing for worship using the Revised Common Lectionary? If so, are you using Ruth or Deuteronomy, Psalm 146, or Psalm 119? Are you using the Narrative Lectionary? Are you observing Reformation Day, following a whole different set of texts? Are scraping the Lectionary all together and welcoming the ghouls and goblins of Halloween… Read More
Sunday Prayer: Psalm of Job
From dawn to dusk, from dusk to dawn,O God guide our breaths, our lives, our loves. We are fragile and frail, O Eternal Glory. We are so full of pride that we downplay our faults, and so full of faults that we downplay our possibilities. What is the sky to a speck of dust? What… Read More
Saturday Prayer: The Beauty of Weeds
Creator of all,I thank you for the beauty of your Creation:The mosquitos in my yard,The poison ivy along the fence,The sunlight shining on the weeds in my garden,Yes, even the weeds.Thank you for providing for meIn this green spaceA reminder of your abundant loveThat nurtures the wheat and sifts out the chaff,That teaches me to… Read More
Friday prayer: the witness of Bartimaeus
A relative of mine would yell at referees during basketball games, “You blind Bartimaeus!” This name-calling was, of course, meant as an insult. (It was also problematic in ways I didn’t quite understand as a teenager.) But Bartimaeus was wise. He didn’t have to see Jesus to know who – and what – he was.… Read More
Wednesday Prayer
Weaver of time, here we are in between so many things, in between holidays, in between the start of COVID and, we pray, its end, in between hope and resignation, in between grief and peace. Come to us, we pray, in these ordinary times, liven them with your gifts of joy and serenity, and fill… Read More
Monday Prayer, October 18, 2021
Dear God, Last night the coyotes yipped and screeched outside my window and I thought of You. I knew they were looking for something to catch and devour and I was glad my old dog and cat were safe inside the house (and us, too). They are bold these days, standing on the front lawn… Read More
Saturday Prayer: Broken Places
Oh Gd,How broken our world is,How scattered your children,How ignored and abused your Creation… And we say nothing.We do nothing. (Or we make excuses…) Holy One,Creator and Redeemer and Renewer,Bring healing!Bring change!Bring hope!But most of all,Begin with me. Re-form my broken places,Re-fill my empty heart.We are all thirsty for your love,Longing for your grace,And need… Read More
Friday prayer: God is love
We love you because you first loved us because you knit us together, just as we are because you gave us the care of this awe-inspiring world because you keep your arms open to us, no matter what we do because you look for us when we get lost because you subjected your son to… Read More
RevGalBookPals: No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler
Kate Bowler has written a psalm to human finitude. Her recent release, No Cure for Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear) functions as a companion to her bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved). Bowler, an associate professor of the History of Christianity in North America at… Read More
Everything’s Hard, and I’m Tired
I spoke those words aloud to an empty townhouse as I literally fell onto my bed late yesterday afternoon. They’re definitely correlated, and perhaps there is a causal feedback loop. Because the tired-er I get the hard we everything is, which makes me all the more tired. This morning, after a nap and a night’s… Read More
